


lost memories of a crumbling ranch

by lu_marii



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: Gen, Memories, Reincarnation, im keeping the tags you cant stop me, was meant to be linked universe but then it wasnt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:54:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27593015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lu_marii/pseuds/lu_marii
Summary: These are what had drawn him to kill this guardian: The sign, half falling off it’s posts, only the letters L-- -O- Ran-- visible; The crumbling frames of an old house and barn, chickens’ nesting boxes more mildew than wood; The rotted fence of a horse pasture slowly falling to the unkempt grass.It’s nothing special. It’s the same as the other thousand ruined houses Link has seen. But still he steps forward under the falling sign.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 59





	lost memories of a crumbling ranch

**Author's Note:**

> ayo. uhgn
> 
> hi ...................... here. bye

Link doesn’t tend to bother with guardians. 

Unless he really needs to, or he’s just bored and itching for a fight, he just runs or teleports away. It’s too much of a waste of energy and weapons to fight one when they’ll all just come back next Blood Moon. 

Which is why he doesn’t understand why he bothered with this guardian. 

He stands over its metal shell now, panting. The glow of the Master Sword has dimmed, the hum in his bones quieted. He crouches down to loot the corpse, and when he pulls out a couple screws his fingers are stained with rust and mud and century old oil. 

He steps back from the guardian, limbs heavy with a familiar exertion. He’d just barely missed a guardian’s beam, and now when he breathes in he’s met with the acrid scent of burnt hair. He wrinkles his nose and pushes the singed lock behind his ear, smearing mud across scarred skin as he does so. 

Then he turns around to face the ruins. 

These are what had drawn him to kill this guardian: The sign, half falling off it’s posts, only the letters  _ L-- -O- Ran--  _ visible; The crumbling frames of an old house and barn, chickens’ nesting boxes more mildew than wood; The rotted fence of a horse pasture slowly falling to the unkempt grass. 

It’s nothing special. It’s the same as the other thousand ruined houses Link has seen. But still he steps forward under the falling sign. 

That ever present hum of the Triforce grows to a shriek for a moment and he winces, squeezing his eyes shut, before it quiets once more. When he opens his eyes again something flashes in the corner of his gaze. He whips around, the Master Sword’s hilt tight in his grasp - but there’s nothing there. 

Link waits another moment. Then, Sword still in his hand, he continues forward. 

He doesn’t go into either of the old buildings, doesn’t pick through them for loot like he typically would. Something about the thought - it feels like sacrilege, blasphemy, stealing from a church or a grave. 

His feet take him forward to the pasture. Without knowing why he walks a lap around it once, twice, three times. Unconsciously he closes his eyes, tilting his face up to the sun. Some old song he can’t remember ever learning plays in his mind; With the song comes the distant, hazy memory of a horse’s mane under his hand, his feet securely in stirrups, and - this one strikes him as odd - silky red hair falling over his hand as he cups a freckled cheek in his hand. 

Here, he pauses, reaching out for a more solid memory of this mystery redhead. Of all the few memories he’s managed to regain, he doesn’t remember anyone with hair like theirs. His fingers fall through half tangible memories - a Cucco egg in his pocket, a small hand holding his own, a cold bottle of milk in his tiny fingers - but just as soon as he finds them they fall away, and he is left with nothing. 

He grits his teeth, fists clenching at his sides. For a moment a fiery anger rises in his chest and tightens his throat. But then, remembering the knight he is supposed to be, he lets out a breath and releases the anger with it. 

Then he opens his eyes. 

Vaguely, he thinks he hears a child laugh, but when he looks around he finds nothing. He’s not past hearing things, though, and chalks it up to a trick of the mind. 

He is alone in the ruins of a ranch, destroyed by his failure. He blinks blankly at the rotted sign and finds he doesn’t remember why he came here. 

**Author's Note:**

> hope u . enjoyedh


End file.
